Somatic mutations of MLL4/COMPASS induce cytoplasmic localization providing molecular insight into cancer prognosis and treatment

Abstract

Cancer genome sequencing consortiums have recently catalogued an abundance of somatic mutations, across a wide range of human cancers, in the chromatin-modifying enzymes that regulate gene expression. Defining the molecular mechanisms underlying the potentially oncogenic functions of these epigenetic mutations could serve as the basis for precision medicine approaches to cancer therapy. MLL4 encoded by theKMT2Dgene highly mutated in a large number of human cancers, is a key histone lysine monomethyltransferase within the Complex of Proteins Associated with Set1 (COMPASS) family that regulates gene expression through enhancer function, potentially functioning as a tumor suppressor. We report that theKMT2Dmutations which cause MLL4 protein truncation also alter MLL4’s subcellular localization, resulting in loss-of-function in the nucleus and gain-of-function in the cytoplasm. We demonstrate that isogenic correction ofKMT2Dtruncation mutation rescues the aberrant localization phenotype and restores multiple regulatory functions of MLL4, including COMPASS integrity/stabilization, histone H3K4 mono-methylation, enhancer activation, and therefore transcriptional regulation. Moreover, isogenic correction diminishes the sensitivity ofKMT2D-mutated cancer cells to targeted metabolic inhibition. Using immunohistochemistry, we identified that cytoplasmic MLL4 is unique to the tissue of bladder cancer patients withKMT2Dtruncation mutations. Using a preclinical carcinogen model of bladder cancer in mouse, we demonstrate that truncated cytoplasmic MLL4 predicts response to targeted metabolic inhibition therapy for bladder cancer and could be developed as a biomarker forKMT2D-mutated cancers. We also highlight the broader potential for prognosis, patient stratification and treatment decision-making based onKMT2Dmutation status in MLL4 truncation-relevant diseases, including human cancers and Kabuki Syndrome.